One of the most important elements in front yard landscaping ideas is the walkway. Creating a beautiful walkway will invite visitors to come into your home and sets the tone for the rest of your landscape and interior design. It is important to think about what type of design will improve Massachusetts curb appeal the most, add value to your home and inspire prospective buyers to want to purchase your property when and if you put it up for sale. From flagstone pavers to landscape edging materials and anything else you decide to use to accentuate your walkway and improve the look of your home, it is important to choose wisely to maximize the return on your investment.
Front Yard Walkways
Whether you choose to create a path that will lead your guests directly to your front door or if you want to make a walkway that will tour the rest of your landscaping area, including a small garden, porch or backyard getaway, there are three things that Scituate homeowners and other Southeastern Massachusetts residents should consider when planning to build a front yard walkway.
- WIDTH – The width of your walkway is more important than you might think. When it comes to front yard landscaping ideas, deciding how wide to make your walkway will determine how much space you have leftover for grass, shrubs, flowers, trees and other landscaping elements. Do you want it to be a small, single path for one person or wide enough that two people can walk side-by-side? Four to five feet is the average width of a walkway, while pathways that lead to gardens and other areas can be slightly more narrow.
- SHAPE – The shape of your walkway will be determined how much room you have in your front yard. Small front yards are served best by straight walkways, while large front yards can look best with a curved or angular walkway that takes up more space. The shape can also be determined by your home’s architecture. For example, a straight walkway works great with traditional styles, such as Victorian or colonial, while curved paths can look great for informal styles, such as Mediterranean or ranch.
- MATERIALS – The type of materials that you choose, from the pavers, fillers, landscape edging materials and any sealants that you might want to use, should all be chosen carefully and with the landscape of the property in mind. For example, sloped properties should use permeable pavers that will prevent wash-outs and erosion of soil and other landscaping elements, while flat properties can feel free to use solid concrete pavers or patio blocks. Choose materials based upon improving your Massachusetts curb appeal by matching the colors, patterns, textures and styles to the architecture of the home for best results.
5 Ideas for Creating Unique Walkways
Front yard landscaping ideas can vary depending on the style of the home, the style of the homeowner, the amount of space available for building and of course the budget allotted for such an improvement. Fortunately most landscape edging materials and pavers are very cost-effective, allowing homeowners to make big visual improvements without investing a lot of money, especially if they do the work themselves. Here are five front yard landscaping ideas for creating unique walkways that Scituate homeowners and residents throughout the South Coast can use to improve their Massachusetts curb appeal.
- Plants – Adding plants to a walkway can create a very unique result. You can either line the path outside of the landscape edging materials with shrubs, bushes, flowers or other foliage or you can soften the look of flagstone stepping stones by adding a dwarf grass, moss, thyme or other hearty ground cover between the pavers. Choose a type of plant that won’t grow too tall, requires very little maintenance and is strong enough to get walked on by you and your guests.
- Tour – Use your new walkway to take guests on a tour of your garden area, adding features as focal points along the way, such as a bench near a flower garden, unique plants in colorful planters or interesting pieces of garden art that will cause people to slow down and enjoy the tour of all your front yard landscaping ideas. Lighting can be strategically used to put focus on your special elements at night.
- Curves – If you have space for a curved walkway, take advantage of it by planting unique landscaping elements around curves and adding other unique features that will accent the beauty of the natural stone pavers and landscape edging materials that you have chosen to use to boost your Massachusetts curb appeal.
- Weeds – Reduce the amount of maintenance required to keep your new walkway looking beautiful and neat by using weed preventing barriers. Landscape fabric can be used underneath the compacted base of soil and then covered with a couple of inches of complementary gravel. Landscape edging materials are also important to keep grass in its place and prevent weeds from popping up in your new walkway.
- Mix – Create a beautiful mix of colors, textures and styles of natural stone and concrete pavers in your walkway design. Many front yard landscaping ideas incorporate the use of two or more different types of rock, stone or gravel to create interesting patterns and designs.
Scituate Homeowners: Where to Get Materials Locally
The best place for Scituate homeowners and other residents within the Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island area to find front yard landscaping ideas, materials and hardscaping products is J&J Materials. With locations in Bourne and Seekonk, Massachusetts and a delivery range that reaches up to Scituate, down to the Cape and on out to Providence, you will find the best quality materials and have them delivered to your residential or commercial property for installation. Improve your Massachusetts curb appeal with quality landscape edging materials, natural stone pavers, flagstone stepping stones, gravel, mulch and more at J&J Materials.
